Few people remember it, but the first clash between Rafael Nadal and Robin Soderling occurred in 2006a year before the rivalry between the two exploded. Of those, Nadal defended his crown for the first time at Roland Garros, a title he had won for the first time the previous year. The Manacorí solved the first round without complications (6-2, 7-5, 6-1) and, with 54, surpassed the record of consecutive victories on clay, held until then by the Argentine Guillermo Vilas.
A year later, with Nadal already a three-time champion in Paris, everything exploded at Wimbledon, where both, Spanish and Swedish, faced each other in the third round. With more than three hours on the grass, and with the match tied at two sets, Soderling interrupted a Spaniard’s serve to mockingly imitate his classic underpants readjustment. That unleashed laughter from the All England Tennis Club and was burned into the Manacorí’s retina.
“Soderling is a strange guy“Said Nadal after a clash that ended up taking place in the fifth and final set. “I have greeted him maybe seven times since I arrived at the circuit and he has never answered me. Then today, I fall and he doesn’t even come to ask, he touches his butt, when the game ends, he shakes my hand almost without looking at me… Things that are irrelevant if a player is professional and a good person. Impossible worse“.
Just moments later, Soderling sat in front of the same microphone. And it didn’t fall short. “Nadal said what?” he exclaimed, perplexed. “I have never said those things about him. I would never say that about anyone at a press conference, and I could talk a lot of shit about a lot of people, believe me. I don’t know, she must be having a whiny day. If my opponent is lucky in a hit and doesn’t apologize, it doesn’t matter to me. Why should you if it’s the happiest moment of your life? what nonsense“.
That same year, Nadal, already established as a world racket star, granted uwas interviewed in the program ‘The Question Box’on Canal+ France. In it, the manacorí read and answered the questions that the followers of the space had sent. A classic format. Among various issues, the bomb arrived. Who would you never be a double partner with? And Nadal did not hesitate: “Con Soderling“.
Fate did not want to bring them together again until two years later, in 2009.. They first met in Rome, where Nadal ruthlessly crushed his rival (6-1, 6-0), the first towards whom he had openly acknowledged a feeling close to hatred. Three weeks later, in Paris, the catastrophe arrived.
On the clay of the Philippe Chatrier, the one that had become the Manacorí’s playground – undefeated since 2005, that is, 31 consecutive duels sealed with victory at Roland Garros -, Soderling knocked down Nadal in one of the biggest surprises in tennis history (6-4, 6-4, 6-7(7), 4-6, 7-5).
“Earthquake on earth“, the newspaper headlined the next morning on a full page. The Team. “Nadal’s elimination now opens unexpected horizons for all his rivals.” No sooner said than done. That tournament, Nadal’s private preserve since 2005, knew a new champion: Roger Federerwhich was undone in the final, precisely, by Robin Soderling.
A year later, in 2010, Nadal’s redemption came. After not giving up a single set throughout the tournament, the Spaniard knocked down the Swede in the Roland Garros final. “I haven’t felt it like revenge“, declared the Spaniard. “After Wimbledon 2007 I have had no problems with him.” True or not, that fateful defeat in 2009 was the only stain in almost nine years of absolute dominance, that is, the only rojo between a series of more than 65 boxes verdes consecutive at Roland Garros. The rest, which there is, yes there is, is already tennis history.
